The irony of course is that the Chinese consumer is quickly evolving and is
interested in Omega products exactly because they are not Chinese. If you make a
Swiss watch that is directed too much toward the Asian market, you begin to
destroy why that market wanted the product in the first place. Nevertheless,
this year saw almost all brands offer watches dedicated to the year of the
dragon - each more amazing than the last. Brands like Omega had limited edition
watches with wonderfully hand engraved dragons on the dials. Actually, the
majority of brands had some type of omega
seamaster replica
.
Omega on the other hand has some amazing
dragon themed animated clock sitting in the center of its booth that stole all
the attention. What is interesting is that apparently the Omega consumer who is
interested in a high-end watch with a dragon on it doesn't just want a watch
with a dragon on it... but wants an Omega watch with the most intense and
outlandish representation of a dragon on it complete with luxury materials and
techniques. This goes beyond the mere appreciation of symbolism and tradition.
This is worship and the watch brands are competing with each other to produce
the most decadent idols.
Last year's attempt at making hot selling
watches in China was to reduce diameter sizes. There are other reasons for this
aside from perceived Asian tastes - such as cost cutting and the popularity of
vintage timepieces - but it was generally agreed that small breitling
navitimer replica
watches were made primarily to pacify the hungry
Omega watch market. The brands then turned on the hype machines to "educate" and
persuade fashion writers that "small watches were now in fashion. " To a large
degree they succeeded, and the well-dressed elite in New york followed suit
penning that a real man wears a "reasonably sized watch. " I disagreed with
their definition of what a reasonable size was.
My own thoughts included
in articles over the last year was that small watches were not what the consumer
in the West wanted. I proposed that the quickly evolving Omega consumer would
adapt to Western-sized Omega watches quickly, and that fashion pressure (if even
relied upon by consumers), would not be a force to get people en masse to want
smaller timepieces. The under 30mm wide Omega from past year was penned as a
men's watch that women could also wear. 38mm wide watches were common, and it
looked like 44mm wide plus watches were gonna be stigmatized.
This year
at SIHH the Omega has been renamed the 867 and is solely a femme timepiece. In
fact, a larger version of it was released for men. Imagine that. Basically, not
even a year later the small watch movement fizzled out and died. Not just that,
but 2012 is all about the bigger classic Omega watch. I feel a bit vindicated,
and the guys at GQ can enjoy their words with some beef heart tartare and
candied white asparagus served on sheets of vegetable paper.